Only See Your Face
by David Ginsberg
Summary: Three months after the destruction of Starcourt Mall, the Byers have moved to the DC suburbs as part of a deal with the government, and Will and El have started high school. They still keep in touch with the Hawkins gang, and they still face challenges of both a human and otherworldly sort.
1. Tickets to the Freak Show

**Will Byers**

The government was really eager to cover up the fact that hundreds of Soviets had infiltrated the United States and almost opened a portal to an evil dimension under Indiana, so they offered us a sweet deal. All of us kids would get full rides to Yale, except for Jonathan, who had his heart set on NYU, and Mom got a job as an analyst for the Department of Defense.

It was the first time I could ever remember not having to worry about money, but I was still miserable. It turned out that I wasn't much more popular in my new school than I had been in Hawkins. I guess I'm not really good at hiding my secrets, or one of my secrets anyway. It didn't help that my 'step-sister' (as far as anyone in McClean knew, Jane L. Hopper's mother had died when she was a little girl and her father had remarried to my Mom before his own tragic death in a fire) was the weird girl who dressed like Punky Brewster and acted like a Martian inhabiting an Earth-girl's body and trying to blend in with the natives.

She came into my room the evening after a particularly unpleasant encounter with Brad McDaniel and his gang.

"Will, what is a…faggot?"

"Shhh…" I didn't want my Mom or Jonathan to overhear.

"Ok," El whispered, "what's a faggot?"

"It's just a name people call each other."

"A bad name?"

"Yeah, look. Don't worry about it, ok?"

"Worry about what?" Mom walked in the room, and I knew I was totally fucked. Jane Louisa Hopper was still firmly convinced that "friends don't lie," and wasn't quite clear on the distinction between friends and friends' moms. Mom had the whole story in under two minutes, and freaked out.

"I'm going to call the school and tell them that if they don't do something about this, I'll…."

"No, mom. That'll only make it worse."

"Will…"

I could tell she wasn't going to let this go, which made me mad; and when I'm mad I don't always think straight.

"Besides, they're right anyway." I muttered, not as softly as I should have.

"They're not."

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes when I looked up. "No, I mean…they're right. Dad was right…"

Before I could finish the sentence, Mom cut me off with a hug, a very tight hug. Ordinarily, I would have been irritated at her overprotectiveness, but I was just relieved that she wasn't mad at me. I broke down sobbing, and Mom just held me for a few minutes, like she had when I was a little kid – back when the worst things I had to worry about were Dad and the bullies at school.

El finally broke the silence.

"What's a faggot?"

"It's not a nice word," Mom replied.

I decided it would be best to just explain. "It means…you know how you feel about Mike."

"Yes."

"Well, guys are supposed to feel that way about girls, but I feel that way about boys."

"Which boys?"

"Huh."

"Which boys?"

"Uh…Ralph Macchio." I was worried that El had somehow figured out about my feelings for Mike – before the Demogorgon got me. The last thing I needed was to bring jealousy into the mix, and it wasn't technically a lie. I mean, he is cute, and I'd gotten over my crush on Mike when he started going out with El.

"Wait."

El ran into her room and came back a few minutes later with one of those girly magazines Max had given her, opened to Ralph's big brown eyes. To her this was no big deal, just another chance to gossip about cute boys like she had with Max.

"Look, El, I'm kind of tired. Can we just go to bed?"

I turned the light off and tried to make myself go to sleep, but I could hear Mom and Jonathan arguing. Jonathan's voice was exasperated. "He doesn't need to see a doctor, Mom. There's nothing wrong with him."

"Jonathan!"

"He's just different. We always knew he was different."

"Different people get hurt, Jonathan. I could protect him from those…things but I can't protect him from…"

"They're just bullies, Mom."

"It's bullies now, Jonathan, but before long it'll be police, and, and street toughs and God knows what sort of diseases he'll catch."

Before she could say anything else I pulled the pillow over my head, muffling the sound of their voices so that I couldn't make out the words.


	2. Let All the Children Boogie

The next day I had art club. Mom had insisted I do an extracurricular to "meet people." I hadn't told her there were only four other kids in art club: Jackie McCabe, Oscar Sheppard, Gene Cannon, and Eddie Montgomery. Eddie beautiful smile, curly hair, I-can't-stop-staring Montgomery. I wasn't sure if it was the worst or best decision I'd ever made to sign up for a club with him, but so far it didn't seem like he suspected anything.

El had ridden her bike home alone, which we were all a little nervous about, but Jonathan had insisted that we needed to let her get used to being on her own. I was a little surprised when he pulled up in the old Pinto just as I was walking out.

"Get in." The tape deck was playing _Starman_.

"You have newspaper today?"

"Uh…yeah. Who's the picture of?"

I put the picture Eddie had given me in the back seat as I climbed in.

"It's of me. We had to do a portrait of someone."

"So who'd you pick."

"Eleven."

"Why her?"

I shrugged. "She had time to sit still for me."

Jonathan pulled out of the parking lot and turned off the radio.

"About last night…"

"Mom wants me to see a shrink."

"I talked her out of it."

"What about Dr. Owen?"

"I thought you didn't like Dr. Owen."

"That was partially the Mindflayer talking. I mean, yeah it sucks, but if it could make me normal."

Jonathan sighed. "It can't. Do you remember me giving you _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_ last year?"

"Yeah." I'd read the book, but hadn't really enjoyed it. Of course, that could have had something to do with the Mindflayer too.

"That's what they'd do to you. They'd talk mom into putting you into a facility where they'd promise to 'cure' you with electroshocks and drugs. They're not any better than the Mindflayer."

"So what should I do?"

"Try to be yourself."

"But I don't like myself."

"You should. Look, Mom's having a really hard time with this, so try not to say anything to her for a while. She'll come around eventually."

"Ok."

"If you need anything, you can talk to me."

"Thanks."

When we got home, I went to my bookshelf and picked out _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_. I figured I might like it better if I reread it.


	3. A Bunch of Savages in This Town

**Steve Herrington**

Once he realized that we wouldn't burn down the video store if left unsupervised, Keith pretty much left Robin and I alone while he did whatever it was that Keith did with his time, which gave me a chance to talk to Robin about Will.

"Will Byers is coming back for Thanksgiving."

"So…?"

"I was thinking maybe you guys could, you know, hang out some. If you had time, that is."

"Steve, as much as I appreciate your friends' saving the world and all, I'm not quite as fond of hanging out with children as you are."

"I just think, you know, you and Will have a lot in common."

"We do? Like what?"

"Like…oh."

"Oh. How did you figure this out?"

"Mike figured it out. Actually, so did Will's asshole dad and every bully in Hawkins Middle School, but Mike's the one who told me, and I confirmed it with Jonathan."

"How did Mike figure it out?"

"You know how you used to look at Tammy Thompson?"

"You mean when I wasn't busy obsessing over what a douchebag you were?"

"Right. That's how he used to look at Mike, until Eleven showed back up."

"Poor kid, he must have had his heart broken."

"Yeah, I guess so."

We were interrupted by the entrance bell. It turned out to be Max returning The Legend of Billie Jean. She wore a baseball cap and her hair fell down in front of her face almost strategically enough to cover up a recently acquired black eye.

"Nice shiner."

"Thanks," she responded sarcastically.

"How'd you get it?"

"Skateboarding." She left the video on the counter and walked out without another word. Robin and I stared after her until I could formulate a question.

"Hey Robin, if you fell on a skateboard, wouldn't your whole face be scratched up? Like, not just your eye?"

"Uh…yeah. You think she's been in a fight?"

"I think it's her stepdad."

"Shit."

I tried to come up with a plan during the rest of my shift, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do as a washed-up high school jock working at a video store. Hopper would have been able to help, but Chief Powell put a premium on closing cases as quickly as possible, and it would be my word against A Respected Member of the Community.

I closed up shop and then drove out to the old Hawkins lab. The CIA was paying me a small stipend to keep an eye on the place and let them know if I saw any Russians or interdimensional monsters. I think they had a couple of kids on the payroll, too, and I saw Lucas skulking around the place.

"Want a ride?" I called out.

"I've got my bike," Lucas responded.

"Oh. Uh…listen, have you seen Max lately?"

"Yeah, but officially no. Her stepdad doesn't like, well…"

"Yeah, he's who I'm worried about. Did you know she had a black eye today?"

"No, shit. Look, she can't know I told you anything."

"She doesn't want someone to do something?"

"Mr. Clarke tried to call the social worker, but they believed everything Mr. Hargrove said, and he blamed Max for it."

"Oh, shit."

"Yeah."


	4. The Whole Truth

**Jonathan Byers**

Dr. Owen's office was in a nondescript office park at the far edge of the metro system. For whatever reason, he didn't want me to drive there. The check-ins were my least favorite part of the week.

"Any unusual behaviors?"

"No."

"You sure about that."

"I mean he's had to adjust to a new school, but nothing like last year."

"Is he really homosexual?"

"What?"

"I don't mean to pry, it's just that we think they might be more sensitive to certain, shall we say phenomena."

"If you have spies in the school, then what do you need me for?"

Owen shrugged. "He'll tell you things he won't tell his art teacher."

"Because he knows I'll keep his secrets. I'm talking to you know because you're the only people who can protect us from the Mindflayer, but my brother's sexual proclivities aren't any of your fucking business."

"Jonathan, I need you to trust me."

"Why should I? I know you're holding things back from me."

"What am I holding back from you?"

"If the portal was really closed, you wouldn't need to monitor anybody. There's something else out there, isn't there? Or you've got some other kid locked up in a cell and you don't even know what they're going to bring up."

"Ok, you want the whole truth? This whole crazy thing started in Germany back in the 30s and 40s. The Nazis were big believers in everything occult, and they did some early experiments in the camps. They figured out that only certain people had the…ability, and that it's easier to develop if you start young and keep them in a state of constant fear. After the war, we were scrambling to get any ex-Nazis with knowledge that might be weaponizable. One of them was a Dr. Martin Brenner. For the first 20 years ago, we kept him on a tight leash, strictly defensive work."

"What do you mean by defensive?"

"Trying to figure out ways our personnel could counter psychic penetration. In the mid -60s, we started getting intelligence that the Soviets had developed an offensive program, and a determination was made that allowing them to gain an advantage would be unacceptable, so Brenner was given a lab in Hawkins and permission to do whatever the hell he wanted. There were 21 kids total."

"What happened to the others?"

"A fair number of the older ones died, most of the younger ones are in foster care, and eight and three have gone missing entirely, as have a number of former lab employees. Several other former lab employees have turned up dead, and we think eight or three has something to do with it."

"Can you blame them?"

"No, but I can't blame the government for not wanting the Soviets to be able to read all of our minds, either."

"So you think the Soviets are after Eleven?"

"No, we've been monitoring their communications. It seems like they've managed to retrieve something from either Starcourt or their own opening. They call it _Tsvetochnaya Past_, it means 'the flower mouth.'"

"Fuck."

"Now about Jane."

"She tries every night, but nothing's happened yet."

"Will you tell me if something does?"

I sighed. As much as I hated to admit it, Owens really was our best shot at staying alive. "Yes."


	5. Over the Airwaves

**Jane Louisa "El" Hopper**

Friday night was the night the Party joined Mike for our Cerebro call, except tonight Max wasn't there.

"Her stepdad won't let her out," Lucas explained.

"Can't she sneak out?" I asked.

"I don't know if that would be such a good idea," Lucas responded.

"Can I call her on the phone?"

"No." Lucas' voice sounded nervous. I didn't understand why, but before I could ask Dustin changed the subject.

"So Will, have you met any cute girls in DC?"

"Uh…No," Will responded.

"Dustin," Mike cut in. His voice sounded like Ms. Byers' when she told Will or me to clean our rooms for the third or fourth time.

"Yeah, Dustin," Lucas' voice came back over the line, "Will isn't as good a singer as you." The tension dissipated as Lucas and Mike began teasing Dustin by singing the Neverending Story song.

After Will had finally gone to bed, I reset the radio so it would produce as much static as possible and closed my eyes. I had been doing this every night for 132 days, trying to get my powers back. It was slow going, I had been able to get fuzzy outlines of the people I was looking for, but couldn't really see them until tonight.

I found Max. She was standing next to her bed, looking at a man. I guessed that it was her stepfather. He was angry at her, but not shouting.

"What did I tell you about sneaking out?"

"I wasn't sneaking out."

"Don't lie to me, Maxine."

He slapped her across the face. Before I could stop myself, I shouted her name. Max looked towards me, which made the man angrier. He pulled her hair to make her face him.

"You've been out fucking that n-r again. Haven't you, you little tramp?" I didn't know what that word meant, but it seemed to upset Max.

"Don't call him that!"

The man slapped Max again, and then they both dissolved in a puff of smoke. I opened my eyes and ran into Jonathan's room.

"What's wrong?...El, your nose is bleeding."

"Max is in trouble."


	6. Black Car

**Joe Mason**

I turned down Sunset Boulevard in a black Countach that I'd won off a second-rate mobster who didn't realize that I could visualize the card numbers as they were dealt, or myself getting beat up by the goons he was going to send to recover his car. They would be getting to my room in the Tropicana just about now.

I didn't particularly mind having to leave Las Vegas, the bookies were starting to recognize me anyway, and I figured it was best to keep moving to make it harder for the Department of Energy to track me. I hadn't had any premonitions related to them in just over two years, since one of some sort of monster eating Brenner's face off, but I didn't want to take any chances. I figured once I exhausted the betting opportunities in L.A. I could move to New York and play the stock market for a while until I could find a way to get to Europe without a passport.

For the time being, I checked into a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel and changed out of the nondescript jeans and t-shirt I'd worn for the drive into going out clothes, making sure that my watch covered the number 003 tattooed on my wrist.

Once I'd finished unpacking my suitcase, I left the hotels and hit the Sunset Strip. It didn't take me long to find the gay bars in West Hollywood. I checked out each guy I danced with – I could tell who was sick by my premonitions of their futures. The first guy, a cute blonde, would be dead in two years, the next five, the one after that six, then 18 months. Finally, I found a guy who was clean – he'd end up living in Palm Springs with a 'special friend' and a poodle – and suggested that he come back to my hotel room. He was gone by the time I woke up in the morning.


	7. Negotiations

**Jonathan Byers**

After talking to Will and Eleven, I decided to call Herrington. He didn't pick up his phone until the fifth ring.

"Herrington residence, this is Steve."

"It's Byers."

"Will? Man, your voice has really…"

"Jonathan."

"Oh, hey man. Uh…what's up?"

"Eleven has her powers back, and she's worried about Max."

"Yeah, me too. About Max, not the powers."

"Yeah, no shit. Why are you worried about Max?"

"Remember back in fifth grade, you started coming to school with weird cuts and bruises. I didn't know what to do…"

"That didn't start in fifth grade. It just got worse."

"Lucas thinks he took most of it out on Billy, but with Billy dead, there's nobody left but Max."

"Is there anything you guys can do? Maybe she could stay with the Wheelers for a while?"

"Jonathan, we're just a bunch of kids. He's got the law on his side. Look, Jonathan, I'm sorry about…"

"It's not your fault."

"No, about fifth grade"

"I'll try to think of something."

I hung up the phone and went back upstairs. Eleven had the radio turned up and her eyes closed.

"Hey, El…" I wanted to tell her to stop; I didn't think it was safe for her to be using her powers without someone around in case things got out of hand. Before I could say anything more, I heard voices through the static on the radio. They gradually became clearer, until I could hear a voice with a Russian accent.

"How did she close the gate?"

"I'm telling you, I don't know!" A chill ran down my spine. The voice was unmistakably Hopper's.

Another voice said something in Russian, and the first man responded.

"Where are you taking me?" Hopper shouted.

I heard a thud, as though maybe someone had hit Hopper, and then Eleven opened her eyes.

"Jonathan?"

"I need to call someone. Get Will."

I picked up the phone and dialed the number Owens had given me.

"Samuel Owens."

"It's Jonathan Byers."

"What…"

"Is this a secure line?"

"Yes."

"El got her powers back, and she found Hopper."

"Wait, Jim Hopper? But he's dead."

"Owens, I heard his voice. It sounds like he's in Russia."

"How…?"

"He was talking to someone, it sounded like they were interrogating him. Look, is there any way you can talk to the Russians, do like a spy exchange or something? I know you caught a bunch of their people at Starcourt."

"I'll see if I can pull some strings. Is there anything I can help you with in the meantime?"

"You remember Max?"

"Red hair, defiant attitude?"

"That's the one. She's having problems at home. If there's anything you can do to help out…"

"I'll see what I can do."

I tried to put the morning's events out of my head. I was taking Will, El, and the rest of the art club to see Depeche Mode, and I wanted to make sure they had a good time. I especially wanted to make sure Will and Eddie Montgomery had a good time. At the risk of turning into Murray Bauman, I had kept an eye on Will and was pretty sure that he had a crush on Eddie. There was reason to believe that Eddie reciprocated, in the form of a drawing he'd given to Will. Admittedly, my friends weren't exactly a representative sample of heterosexual masculinity, but I couldn't imagine any of them drawing a portrait of me and then giving it to me as a gift. Still, there was enough risk of Will making an advance that Eddie rejected that I wanted to be on hand to control the damage. I also thought it might help to lower everyone's inhibitions, so on the drive over I passed a joint to everyone except Eleven. I had no idea how her powers would interact with drugs, so for the time being she'd have to make herself content with the music and the "bitchin" outfit she'd put together for the night. Still, she seemed happy enough to be with us and Will's friends, who had accepted our story that her odd behavior was residual trauma from the loss of both parents at a young age.

My plan worked perfectly. The kids started out the night dancing in the aisle, and Will and Eddie got closer to one another as they grew comfortable in the near-anonymity of the dark theater. They were talking, and I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was obvious that things were going well. As the band started playing the final song of the evening, Will and Eddie leaned in for a quick, almost chaste, kiss. I had to restrain myself from cheering audibly.

They held hands in the car all the way back to Eddie's house, the last stop of the night before I took El and Will home. Will got out to walk Eddie to the front door. I was nervous about Eddie's parents, who I'd never met, seeing them being affectionate.

"Wait," I called after them, "say goodbye at the car."

They kissed a second time, less hesitantly than the first, and Will got back in the front seat. He didn't say anything, but his smile told me everything I needed to know.


End file.
